[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: here we go. hello, everybody. good morning, good morning. it is tuesday november 13. great to see you today. welcome to the "full court press" here on current tv. we're coming to you live all the way across this great land of ours from our nation's capital and our studio on capitolhd wiwihdth a allllhd of f ththhde nenewswsse ogmf f ththt e 6 dadayy her just breaking this morning. another top general in afghanistan is caught up in the david petraeus sex scandal. general john allen has released some 20 to 30,000 pages of

inappropriate e-mails that he exchanged with the tampa temptress, jill kelly. she started the fbi investigation of petraeus in the first place. why are the military generals acting so much like politicians? well, we'll talk about that and all kinds of other issues but first, we get the latest. today's current news update, lisa ferguson's got it out in los angeles. good morning. >> hey bill, good morning everyone. as bill mentioned this petraeus story seems to be getting more complex by the minute. we'll give you more information here because we are continuing to learn more about this whole scandal involving now former c.i.a. director david petraeus and his extramarital affair with the author of his biography paula broadwell. another american is now getting caught up in the whole thing and that is the top commander in afghanistan, general john allen. turns out the pentagon is now investigating him as well for

sending inappropriate e-mails to jill kelly. now, if you remember from yesterday, kelly is the same woman who sparked this whole investigation because petraeus' mistress paula broadwell was sending her e-mails. allen is saying he did nothing wrong and is maintaining his current position within the military. now, many are wondering why the fbi would get involved if this is nothing more than an affair. but we're now hearing fears of potential security leaks. in a speech at the university of denver broadwell suggested the libya attack was targeting a secret prison at the benghazi consulate. federal agents have been searching broadwell's home. late last night and into early this morning. not only did she have thousands of e-mails between her and petraeus detailing the affair. she also had classified material on her computer. as of yet the fbi doesn't believe that came from petraeus but it is illegal. more bill is up after the break. stay with us.

we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today... ♪ just put a little bit of yourself ♪ ♪ in everything you do ♪ [ female announcer ] add your own ingredients to hamburger helper for a fresh take on a quick, delicious meal. it's one box with hundreds of possibilities. [ male announcer ] with over 50 delicious choices of green giant vegetables it's easy to eat like a giant... ♪ ♪ and feel like a green giant. ♪ ♪ ho ho ho

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv. this is the "bill press show." >> bill: breaking news this tuesday morning. there is now one more general who is caught up in the general petraeus sex scandal. oh, my god. is this looking like a new tv series? good morning everybody. what do you say? hello, hello hello.ú great to see you today. here we go. it happens to be tuesday november 13. one week from the re-election of barack obama. great to see you this morning. thanks for joining us.

it is the "full court press." your new progressive morning show on current tv and the only progressive morning show anywhere on cable television in this country. good to have you with us today and we are so happy to be with you to tackle the stories of the day. talk about them. give you our analysis from our answered get your comments from your end as to what it means to you and your family and where you think we ought to go from here. you can do that by giving us a call at 1-866-55-press. by following us on twitter at bpshow or on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. and then you can go in the chat room also. chat room is just a big conversation among listeners and watchers of the show. current tv or on progressive talk radio or on sirius x.m. nationwide kind of chat room. you can join by going to

current.com and then clicking on the chat room. peter ogborn again off today. but dan henning filling in on many fronts here. >> good morning. >> bill: assisted by phil backert on phones and of course, cyprian bowlding keeping us all coming to you by camera as well on current tv. our videographer, cyprian good to see you as well. cyprian gets the wave. that's about all. we finally heard -- it's been a week now and it wasn't until yesterday -- he was out hunting he went hunting paul ryan -- he tried to bag barack obama. that didn't work. he tried to bag some quail or deer. i don't know what he was hunting. moose? i don't know. >> he was doing his p90x routine. >> bill: he came back yesterday and said you know what? we ran a hell of a campaign. >> big ideas and big issues which is the kind of campaign we

wanted to run. it just wasn't enough at the end of the day. we just had to accept that. >> bill: they ran the kind of campaign they wanted to run. no, they didn't. come on. that's the worst spin i ever heard. they wanted to run a campaign that ended up with them in the white house. they didn't. they ran a lousy campaign. even republicans now say they ran a lousy campaign. but paul ryan goes on to say well, you know, we certainly didn't expect what happened. >> the polling we had the numbers we were look at looked like we stood a pretty good chance of winning. so when the numbers came in, you know, going the other direction we saw the kind of turnout in areas that were unprecedented it did come as a bit of a shock. >> bill: no, no, no, no paul. it wasn't unprecedented. it was just like 2008. all of the republicans counted

on the fact that democrats would not turn out for barack obama. and republicans had no ground game and the obama campaign had a magnificent ground game. they knew who their voters were and they knew they had to get them out to the polls and they did. the republicans thought they could b.s. their way into the white house and it doesn't work that way. plus he had a lot of bad ideas and two lousy candidates. what a great show we have for you today. igor vole ski. tuesdays with judd. now tuesdays with igor since judd is off on paternity leave. he will be in along with eric burns from bullfight strategies. then we'll have something special today. devote one hour, the last hour together today to the white house fellows program. it is a program that i'm close to. been following for a long time. it is a great program. you're going to get to meet the director of the white house fellows and three of the current white house fellows are here this year in washington d.c. all of that coming up and the latest on the petraeus scandal

and another general caught with his pants down maybe. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> good morning. other headlines making news on this tuesday. lance armstrong has officially cut ties with the foundation that he started. the disgraced cyclist resigned from the board at the cancer-fighting charity livestrong last week and he stepped down as chairman a month ago. a spokesperson told cbs that armstrong remains as the main inspiration for the 15-year-old organization, also as its biggest donor. he's given $7 million to it over the years. no comment from anyone about the latest allegations. >> bill: it was his organization. just close the doors. turn off the lights. >> there is a gender gap on our nation's roads. there are now more women with driver's licenses in the u.s. than men. according to a new university of michigan study experts say this could have huge economic

implications because studies also show that overall women purchase smaller and safer cars as men. they drive less and get in less accidents. the study looked at drivers today versus drivers in 1995. now about 106 million women have licenses. 104 million men. >> bill: how do you drive fewer miles -- they probably drive fewer miles but they drive better. that's really, really important. significant finding. >> if you want to watch your weight, you wouldn't think to grab a pepsi but the soda maker is looking to change that. they're testing a new soda -- they're changing a new -- testing a new soda in japan called pepsi special contains dex trin that is a fiber that can help reduce fat levels in the body. drinking soda will help you burn fat. no word if that will ever make it here. >> bill: you can drink diet pepsi. >> they're saying drinking this will help you burn fat. >> bill: no, no. maybe in japan.

not here. here is the latest welcome -- guess we should say welcome to access hollywood. military style. >> i love the scandal. >> bill: welcome to the playboy chanel this morning. welcome to "sex and the city." no, it is sex on the base. sex in uniform. yeah. can't get away from it. we talked about it yesterday. it keeps growing and growing and growing. the david petraeus sex scandal. the latest news just broke this morning this is not in this morning's newspapers. you'll hear it here for the first time. another top general in afghanistan, the guy that took david petraeus' place john r. -- general john r. allen has now released -- forced to release -- turns out he was having some kind of an exchange. we think it might have just been limited to e-mails. we don't really know but he released -- get this, somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 pages

of e-mails called inappropriate e-mails with jill kelly who of course, is the third woman -- or the second woman in the david petraeus love triangle that brought him down. he was having an affair with paula broadwell. broadwell, right. paula broadwell thought that jill kelly might be honing in on her action. so she started sending some threatening e-mails to jill kelly and that whole thing blew up. and david came -- it became public. david petraeus of course resigned as head of the c.i.a. because of it. now we find out the same jill kelly who is not only -- according to paula broadwell trying to get too close to dade petraeus -- to david petraeus, she was also cozying up, at least through e-mails to the top general in afghanistan.

john r. allen. i mean you know, this whole thing -- i gotta tell you and i've been criticized for it. i saw some story this morning. oh, the liberal bill press says america has to grow up and get over its victorian kind of thinking about sex scandals but i honestly believe that. this is nothing but a giant love triangle. it is a classic case of a guy in power who is -- who is there for attractive -- who is therefore attractive to some women or some men. people in power celebrities are always surrounded by those who are sexually attracted to them and people in -- men -- particularly men in power love it. they love the attention and they easily fall for the temptation. it happens all the time.

they love this. being the focus of so much adoring attention. they go out. petraeus, i'm sure not the first general. not the first politician, not the first man in power the first celebrity to have an affair. but for this to blow up into some national scandal or seen as some reason why petraeus has to resign, i still think is crazy. we have little insight into this from lieutenant colonel retired john neagle who is a buddy of petraeus talked to him and said petraeus was really, really sorry about this whole mess. >> he expressed enormous remorse and guilt and sorrow and sadness and the desire to make amends with his family. >> bill: he told neagle he thought he knew paula pretty well and she couldn't believe she turned on jill kelly the way she did. >> he was surprised that paula

apparently threatenned jill. >> bill: the official reaction so far mainly on the part of congress is they're pissed because the fbi didn't tell them what was going on which they felt they had an obligation to do. here's senator dianne feinstein head of the senate intelligence committee. >> it is very puzzling and i think was a mistake because this thing just came so fast and so hard and since then, it's been like peeling an onion. every day another peel comes off and you see a whole new dimension to this. >> bill: i think the real question is -- we'll get your take on it at 1-866-55-press. to me, it's not should is the fbi have told members of the house intelligence committee. probably. and the senate. leadership. probably. should they have told the white house? probably. they didn't. my question goes way back and we talked about this yesterday. why the hell should the fbi have gotten involved in this in the first place. it is clear what it was.

let's repeat. how it happened. this jill kelly who is making some moves toward petraeus. paula broadwell thinks he is. broadual starts sending kelly threatening e-mails. kelly tells a friend of hers who works for the fbi and they launch an fbi investigation into this. this is crazy. the fbi should not be involved in private -- people's private sex lives. should not be involved in sex scandals. unless it is some big national security issue which it wasn't. so they got involved in it in the first place and then when they found out that, in fact, it was an affair that petraeus and paula broadwell the e-mails from coming from paula broadwell, then in october an fbi agent doesn't go to the white house. doesn't go to the senate intelligence committee. goes to some congressman from washington state a republican

who is not on the intelligence committee. and he says oh, man you better go to the house leadership with this and then this guy goes to eric cantor of all people. eric cantor. eric cantor was told about this in october. what was that all about? were they trying to get eric can'ter to use it against obama or what? i think the fbi is so col osly wrong. it really ought to trouble us that it is totally like out of control. isn't anybody in charge? at the fbi? they should not have been involved in it in the first place. they certainly should not have been informed cantor and not informed the white house or the head of the intelligence committee. i think the fbi is a real guilty party here. should petraeus have resigned? no. should john allen have to resign? no. let's just deal with it. i'll say it again. grow up, america! an extramarital affair, not worth losing the head of the c.i.a.

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and i sea food differently. >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show" show live on your radio and tv. >> bill: 24 minutes past the hour. another general involved in the david petraeus sex scandal. general is acting -- generals acting like politicians. back to your calls on that -- to your calls at 1-866-55-press.

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here's ken. ken, good morning. >> caller: good morning, bill. you know, i think petraeus got what he deserved. this woman is 20 years his junior. he sells the war in afghanistan to the president by undermining the president. and he followed the same processes that never work from algeria to today. it's never worked. never worked in algeria. it didn't work in vietnam or baghdad. it didn't work in kabul. he's promoted as a great general and a great man. this guy's a -- >> bill: ken wait. maybe he should have been fired because -- as you assert, if his policies are wrong then fire him because his policies are wrong. don't fire him because he cheats on his wife or he has an extramarital affair.

>> caller: the point i'm making is that he is corrupt as a human being. just like the cowl mination -- the culmination of it. >> bill: i hear you. but i'm talking about on what basis do we decide someone should not be in their job. i'm not agreeing with your assessment of petraeus. i think he has been a great general. but if his policies are indeed wrong then fire him because of his policies. not because of this affair. by the way ken says he seduced this woman. i don't know who seduced whom. it takes two to tango. c.j. is in oakland california. hi c.j. >> caller: hi, there. just a quick reality check from someone who doesn't really like to deal with reality. wasn't -- wasn't there a lot of generals to retire before they got to general petraeus in bush's era? isn't he out of bush's era? i know we want to move forward but he doesn't have a good history or record.

even though he's a general it doesn't mean he's an outstanding general. i think that we should take this as a great opportunity to get out of afghanistan because when people have to sell their children in order to try to save their lives we don't need to be there. >> bill: absolutely. we should have been out of afghanistan five years ago c.j. you know that. again. but it is not the issue right here -- the issue right here is should petraeus have had to resign over the affair. what are people saying on twitter? >> on facebook saying this is -- gail says this is getting stupid. sounds like agency jealousy at work. gotcha this and gotcha that has nothing to do with running the country or the country's security. >> bill: the big issue is the fiscal cliff. this is what people are talking about. we still in this 21st century can't tolerate a human mistake. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

>>tax cuts don't create jobs. the golden years as the conservatives call them, we had the highest tax rates, and the highest amount of growth, and the highest amount of jobs. those are facts. >>"if you ever raise taxes on the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true!

>> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: it's 33 minutes after the hour now here on tuesday. tuesday, november 13. one week from the re-election of president barack obama. you know, every tuesday well, the big -- not such a big secret anymore about the "full court press." and i might add most of your other progressive talk shows everybody wonders where do we get all of our information? how do we fill up? how do we know what we're talking about. how do we fill up three hours every day? we go to think progress. you should do, too. thinkprogress.org. the research arm or the news breaking arm whatever of the

center for american progress. igor volsky is the deputy editor. >> thank you for having me on the week versary. >> bill: you have so many good stories on your web site this morning. the top one, the headline is the emerging pro-choice majority. which is part of the story that i saw reported also on nbc yesterday that voters not only said we want barack obama over mitt romney but we want -- we agree with barack obama on the issues. a whole range of issues of which pro-choice is definitely one. tell us about the pro-choice majority. >> we've seen the republican party track to the right on this issue very swiftly in this election. of course, you saw people like mourdock and akin go down in flames. this idea of should rape be an exception when it comes to abortion became really a

national issue. it is a problem. >> bill: romney tried to soften it. we know where paul ryan is. the republican party platform says. no exceptions whatsoever. americans don't buy that. >> they don't buy it when you look at the exit polls. we saw an overwhelming majority saying that abortion -- women should have access and should remain legal. roe v. wade should remain in place. if you look at this kind of new electorate and of course, that's where the republicans really ran into trouble. they didn't realize the obama coalition, hispanics women african-americans, young people would come out in the numbers that they did in 2008. that's why all of the polling numbers failed so if that coalition is here to stay, then on average those groups are more pro-choice than the old electorate older whiter people, mccain romney voters. and so in that sense the country seems to be changing. and of course, we have four more years of not only pro-choice policies but a stronger

pro-choice bench on the supreme court, it's going to, i think be even harder for pro-life to make inroads nationwide. now on the state level that's a different story. to go state by state. there, you've seen over the last two years, just the plethora of these anti-choice laws take place but at least national level, national politics, we do see this turn now. >> bill: that is a change, isn't it? >> it is. >> bill: percentage of americans who would support that position has grown. >> nationwide. >> bill: and will continue to grow as the demographics continue to change. >> it changes everything. >> bill: there are some other changes, too. 60% of americans say tax rates should go up for everybody at least those making over $250,000 a year. romney and obama different -- american people said going to exit polls we agree with obama. >> that's what this election was about. romney was saying there was a stark choice between higher taxes and growth or whatever he

would say. and it was litigated on the tax issue and on the tax issue obama won the argument. moving into the fiscal cliff situation, he has a strong hand. the public is with him. >> bill: right. 49% say states should legally recognize same-sex marriages. >> of course, you saw big wins in maryland, defeated in minnesota. so moving forward -- maine -- so moving forward. that's the first time that you saw -- put it to a popular vote. those issues go forward. the numbers nationally are still divided but again i think a pivotal moment and those numbers again with the demographics will only grow and grow and grow. >> bill: on immigration reform, which i found interesting, of course, the difference is president obama had a comprehensive immigration reform package. mitt romney said people should self-deport. 65% of americans in this -- a week ago today said most illegal immigrants should be offered a

chance to apply for citizenship. not sent back to mexico or wherever. >> you saw right after the election, prominent republicans come out and say okay, we can't continue going on as a national party with the demographic shift. we need to do reform. sean happen hit a conversion after election day saying we should build a consensus. it sounds like schumer and graham will be working on some kind of plan. >> bill: our numbers are so short. one of the first things george w. bush did was put in an immigration reform package in front of the republicans and congress killed it because the talk show hosts went crazy with amnesty. remember that. >> oh, yes. >> bill: big protests. and trent lott and others just -- had just dropped it. >> i think they feel now they have no choice. they either do it or they're done. >> bill: so think progress is going through the other things on your site.

has your name on it. texas megachurch pastor. >> oh, boy. you know you're in trouble. robert jeffers what's his latest? >> this is a guy you'll remember, at the voter summit back in 2011 was a big rick perry supporter. we saw rick perry romney fight in the primary. introduced him. and said after to reporters including think progress that mormonism was a cult. that real christians have a real choice in this election. between rick perry presumably and this romney guy. that 70% of people have a.i.d.s. perry was under some real pressure to push up against him. he said well, i don't subscribe to these beliefs but it is freedom of speech. he can say what he wants. so now he's back. and on the eve of the -- >> bill: not perry.

>> jeffers. on the sunday before the election. in his sermon, said that if obama is re-elected, not that obama is the -- this is the clear distinction. not that obama is the anti-kris but that we will -- the antichrist, we'll pave the way for the antichrist to arrive. he said he will pave the way. so we're on the way. >> bill: we are. jerry falwell i remember one time, he warned that the anti--- he said the antichrist was already here and he was a jew but he didn't name him. at any rate. >> still looking. >> bill: so the antichrist, we ought to be looking around. i don't know, donald trump? >> possibly. i don't know. >> bill: judd legum who is on paternity leave but still writing some stories obviously he's got one about grover norquist. grover norquist had some interesting -- an interesting take on why president obama and

how president obama won this election. here he is yesterday on cbs news. >> the president was committed elected on the basis that he was not romney and that romney was the proof he had and that you should vote against romney. he won by two points. >> did he really say that? >> bill: romney was a poopy head. >> i'm going to search the transcripts. >> bill: i don't remember that. >> it would have been creative. >> maybe that was during the debate. i don't know. >> bill: i must admit i've heard people called a lot of names in politics. >> poopy head. >> it may have happened on "saturday night live." >> they were so believable. >> bill: speaking of poopy heads, donald trump is back in the news. >> did he ever leave? my goodness. >> bill: no. he made a fool of himself toward the end with this $5 million

pledge that he was trying to -- get president obama to release the college transcripts. what's the latest on trump? he's going to go away. >> he's been tweeting up a storm after the election. he called for revolution. >> bill: yeah, right. >> we should all storm washington. >> bill: donald trump calling for revolution. >> demand that romney -- i'm not sure what we would be demanding. so macey's has -- macey's has his exclusive tie collection and so there is a petition now whether they sell frag rageses and ties and shirts and apparently he's some fashion icon. i didn't catch on to this until now. but a sign-on petition, close to 400,000 people saying look, macy's, you have to cut ties with this guy. he's a birther. he's a racist in many ways. and you just gotta -- you've

gotta push him away. no response yet but what trump did do is yesterday afternoon seeing this petition, tweeted out go to macy's and buy my exclusive frag rankses and ties. he's feeding the beast. >> bill: couple of years ago in new york, i was walking up fifth avenue. i walked by this trump tower and i just said to carol let's go inside and see how gaudy the lobby is. sure enough, in the lobby they had this counter and they were selling donald trump -- you know merchandise, right. ties shirts, you know, fragrance and all of this stuff. i couldn't believe how expensive it was. but i couldn't believe how many people were buying this crap. >> i didn't realize he also had bottled water with his face on it. did do you know about this? >> i would rather be dehydrated than drink that. >> bill: i would never never never wear anything that had a

donald trump signature on it. igor volsky is here from think progress. we're starting to cover some of the hot issues of the day. you're welcome to comment on any one of them at 1-866-55-press. or if you've got a question or a comment for igor, give us a call. jump into the program. we've got that seat at the table for you. we'll save it. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >>current will let me say anything. ♪ ♪ the trucks are going farther. the new 2013 ram 1500. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything. ♪ ♪

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cook what you love and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early, he'll find some good people to help guide him, and he'll set money aside from his first day of work to his last, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve

the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today... >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> bill: hey we're out of election and back into issues here with igor volsky from think progress.

and we'll get involve -- involve you in the conversation with your calls in just a second here. but first another word about ancestry.com. something you ought to check out. i've been having a lot of fun with it and learning a lot looking into my own family tree. i've mentioned to you that i've been able to trace the press family back to 1824 in salem new jersey. grand there, thanks to ancestry.com, all the way to rega in latvia and reading the other day you won't believe this. but also mitt romney has -- of course, he's a mormon so they know their family history. he actually -- according to ancestry.com, has past connections to 13 different u.s. presidents, including fdr coolidge and both george h.w. and george w. bush. but of course, fortunately the line to the white house stopped right here. at any rate, you want to try to

check into your own family tree at ancestry.com. they have made it easy for you. go to tryancestry.com, you'll get two full weeks free to see what you can discover about your family tree. again, so try it out. try ancestry.com. that's tryancestry.com. and you'll have as much fun and learn as much about it as i have. dan, before we get back to too deeply into these issues, twitter and facebook. >> we talk about the whole petraeus and general john allen thing that broke overnight. and aria says to be fair, i've been to afghanistan and it is really quite boring. however, you can have some fun over there to take your mind off things and christopher -- >> bill: david petraeus discovered it. the affair did not begin in afghanistan. it began once he came back here to c.i.a. headquarters. >> christopher chilson on john allen's 20,000 e-mails asks how

do they have time to send so many e-mails? don't they work? >> bill: in my entire life, i haven't sent 20,000 pages of e-mails. >> i'm trying. >> that's a lot. e-mail. >> this proves to me that women are petty and katy. not that i think what the general did was right but if the mistress had kept to herself and not sent out the threatening e-mails, none of this would have come out. >> bill: we always blame the woman in this case. it is never the man. always the woman. frank has a column about that in the n.y. times this morning. igor, back to more serious stuff we ought to be talking about. so john boehner is saying hey we can have -- we can find some common ground here and republicans are quick to say yeah, let's follow the boehner thing. when you look at what boehner is saying about how to avoid the fiscal cliff he's not saying we're going to agree with president obama on anything yet right? >> not yet. at least publicly, he's just

reheating the old romney proposal which is if you close deductions, that's where you get your revenue. not from letting the high end tax cuts expire. the high-end tax cuts expire. what obama had been campaigning on and what voters want overwhelmingly. so you know, the administration has actually been fairly optimistic about where boehner is and negotiating with boehner and negotiating maybe with some of the rank and file who are more likely to come to an agreement. maybe go into the senate. and doing this very publicly. they're meeting with a lot of groups with labor groups, with business groups and they've learned their lesson. this idea that in 2011 last year, they could just sit in a room with boehner, hatch out a deal and all would be done. clearly didn't work out very well. after the election, i think the president feels he has a mandate on these issues. if it doesn't work out, it is a great opportunity for him to go use the pulpit, travel the

country, sell the ideas and apply public pressure to boehner to give a bit. >> bill: yeah. can we say hello here to sir calling from fort worth, texas. good morning. >> caller: good morning, mr. press. how do youing? >> bill: it is bill. do you have a question or comment? >> caller: the comment is that america needs to grow up but we need to wake up. we can't be a hypocritical nation where we teach our children one thing and we do something else as adults. there has to be a moral integrity. if we don't have it, the nation does not have a future. it is just very simple. >> bill: all right. i'll take that as a statement sir and a statement that i can disagree with. not that we should be an immoral nation but i think we have to recognize people are human and they make mistakes and that should not necessarily -- this mistake cost them their job in my humble opinion. get back to this tax thing. republicans are in essence saying we're offering new

revenue as long as you never never, never raise taxes so they're still sticking to the old grover norquist poopy head pledge. >> 20 senate folks who signed the pledge, lost their seats. about with 55 didn't win. it is not a good political position for them. this fiscal cliff situation from the republican perspective is simple. either everyone gets a faction increase, middle income americans, everyone or they allow tax cuts to go up on 2% of americans. and that's -- for them, that's a problem they can't solve. they're against increasing taxes, they should be willing to compromise here. >> bill: i think it is a clear choice. president obama said this. i was at the white house friday. when he said it. a bill that has passed the senate that would give 98% of americans a tax cut. they have to think about that, right? >> yeah. >> bill: they would rather kill that, right?

than raise taxes on the 2%. >> bill crystal say on sunday, what's the problem? where is the fight here? >> bill: igor, thanks so much for coming in. thanks for all of the work you do. thinkprogress.org. and we'll see you next week. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it. >> announcer: taking your >> announcer: taking your e-mails on any topic at any time, this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: eric burns here as a "friend of bill" in the next hour and don't forget, we'll be

talking about the white house fellows and introducing you to that program in our last hour together this morning. on general petraeus, susan says i really think there's something missing in this story. cantor is responsible for this problem. gary also adds don't forget eric cantor's part in this and the so-called whistle-blower's role. is this mrs. tripp all over again? mark stevenson bill, normally i agree with you but not on this one. the duty on our country -- can't have it both ways. barbara says on a personal note, any man who cheats on his wife in my book is a dog. since these wars are being created to bring more wealth to the rich, that is a travesty. on and on. e-mails always welcome. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: good morning, everybody! and welcome to the "full court >> bill: hey, good morning everybody! what do you say? it is tuesday november 13. one week from the re-election of president barack obama. good to see you this morning and welcome to the "full court press." here on current tv. where we bring you up to date on all of the issues of the day including breaking news that another top general is involved in the general petraeus sex scandal. we'll bring you the breaking news and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. here's another bit of breaking news. have you heard a big change on

america's highways. there are now more women drivers than men drivers for the first time in this country. which i think is good news because let's face it, women are better drivers and they will buy smarter, smaller and more efficient cars so there you go. america's highways are safer. hey, we'll talk about that and a whole lot of other stuff but first, we get the latest. today's current news update, here she is, lisa ferguson out in los angeles. hi lisa. good morning. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. congress is back in session today and has plenty to deal with before its new members are sworn in next year. first up on the list is the fiscal cliff and talks of the deficit. the president is leading the charge this week meeting with two dozen business labor and civic leaders from around the country. that will include executives at big corporations like ford, ibm and walmart. four labor leaders are expected at today's meeting from afscme,

afl-cio, the international union and the national education association. the president will meet with progressive groups like the center for america progress and the national committee to preserve social security. democrats are looking to raise revenue in these talks over the fiscal cliff and one idea they're tossing around actually comes from mitt romney. you might remember romney proposed putting a hard cap on income deductions as a way around raising taxes on the rich. that would have helped him pay for his massive tax cuts but now democrats see it as a steppingstone in reducing the deficit and an idea they hope will be bipartisan. politicians will need to work across the aisle if they want to get anything done. not only in this lame duck session but also through obama's second term. talking points memo is laying out the five g.o.p. senators most likely to work with democrats. those are susan collins lisa merckowski, dean hower mark kirk and lindsey graham.

more bill press is up after the break. stay with us. people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa.

>> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: breaking news. another top general the top general in afghanistan now involved in the general petraeus sex scandal. this sound like a new tv series? good morning everybody! it's the "full court press." this is not "sex and the city." it is not "access hollywood," it's the "full court press" here this tuesday morning november 13. thank you for joining us. we're coming to you live from our nation's capital. bringing you up to date on the big stories of the day. of course, giving.

>> chance to get involved in the conversation. in many, many different ways on twitter, follow us at bpshow, on facebook. facebook.com/billpressshow. join the chat room at current.com. or give us a call at 1-866-55-press. you're going to want to call in this hour because we have with us, as a "friend of bill," in this hour, a real "friend of bill" and a real friend of the program, eric burns. who has bullfight strategies with karl frisch. good to see you this morning. >> doing great. good to be here. i'm glad to know i'm one of your real friends not one of the fake friends like those other folks who come on. >> bill: exactly. you know, we knew we were going to be talking about the latest in the sex scandal today. >> i'm all up on justin bieber and what's going on in his love life. oh wait? you meant the director of the c.i.a. >> bill: justin bieber could be involved in this. >> who knows. >> bill: we want one of the

sexiest men alive to come in and talk about it this morning. >> all right. let me know when he comes in. >> bill: we did learn now -- we know -- we were all wondering, it was a week ago today, president obama scored this -- spectacular victory. how did he do it? how did he rack up such a big win? well, the nation's premiere political strategist, grover norquist yesterday he unveiled obama's secret. here he is. >> the president was committed -- elected on the basis that he was not romney and that romney was a poopy head and you should vote against romney. he won by two points. >> bill: there it is. romney is a poopy head. >> deep, political analysis. >> i wonder if they poll tested that. i wonder how much money rove spent to test that message. >> bill: somehow i missed -- i missed -- was it during one of the debates that obama called him a poopy head?

i can see obama say mitt, you're a poopy head. >> mr. poopy head dolls for mitt romney. what a clown. >> bill: it sounds like something my 4-year-old grandson mylo might say. >> grover norquist is a poopy head if anybody is. >> bill: amen to that. i'll say that. we've got a lot coming up this hour. congressman peter welsh from vermont will be joining eric and me at the half hour here to talk about the fiscal cliff negotiations coming up. and in the next hour, very exciting. we've never done this before. we're going to devote the entire hour to one very exciting program that i've been familiar with for quite awhile. very impressed by. the white house fellows program. you're going to get to meet the director of the program. three young men and women who are white house fellows this year with remarkable careers and find out what it is all about and how you might get involved in it.

i'll do that in the next hour together. eric burns and i will dive into the issues. but first -- >> this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this tuesday, mitt romney failed presidential campaign has refocused its web site to try to get rid of all of their campaign swag. hats t-shirts, buttons mugs. here's the thing -- >> bill: fire sale. >> none of it is on sale. going for full price. they have not discounted the losing merchandise. >> bill: just what i want. a romney t-shirt. >> not double the price. it could be a collector's item one day. >> the money goes to the fund that now has a pretty funny name. romney victory. >> bill: the romney victory fund. [ laughter ] >> karl rove running this operation? >> bill: another loser. another poopy head. bush called him a terd blossom. >> i don't think he's blossoming anymore. a stale turd. >> the baseball rookie

association was named. fans on both coast should be happy. the national league award went to bryce harper, outfielder for the washington nationals who hit 22 home runs, second most ever for a teenager in the league. and we head west to the american league rookie, los angeles angels of anaheim mike trout takes the crown with the most steals out of anyone for the season and second best batting average hitting .326 in just his first season. >> bill: all right. >> good for the nats. >> he's 20 now. he's a teenager no more. a love letter is written to the woman who was the inspiration for the hit rolling stone song brown sugar are headed to auction. cbs tells us that the notes that mick jagger wrote to his former lover marsha hunt are going to sotheby's to being auctioned off. a set of ten letters detailing their delicate love affair around 1970 o will likely fetch well over $100,000. >> bill: why is she selling those? >> they're in some collection or

some attic or whatever. they're going to the auction block. steamy details. >> did he call her brown sugar in the letters? >> i don't know. rule's have to buy them for $100 and find out. >> bill: this makes me wonder what general petraeus' e-mails would sell for. before we get -- so do we have to start there? i don't know. i want to start on something else. the story that i find most intrigueing this morning eric burns is you're married. >> yes, i am. >> bill: okay. does maria drive? >> that's one word for it. yes, she does. >> oh! >> she's a fantastic driver. she's like mario andretti. when i'm in the car when anyone is in the car with her i fear for my life because she's often distracted. but she is a very good driver. >> bill: you better be careful what you say here because she's watching. there is a story out this morning that for the first time in this country, there are more female drivers than male drive errs on the road. >> yes. >> bill: i think it is good

news. i think overall women are better drivers than men. don't you agree? >> more cautious. more responsible. according to the article, more interested in environmental -- >> bill: they feel the power and the macho -- >> i do. >> bill: drive faster and a little -- more reckless. it is shown women have fewer accidents than men. so they're better drivers. and they buy smarter cars. they buy -- they're more likely to go out and get a fuel efficient car. prius or hybrid or something like that. smaller cars. they aren't going to find the great big cars you have to show how big your you know what is by the size car you drive. >> yeah. >> bill: overall, this is good for america's highways. >> i think you're right. i think you're right. i was thinking as i was reading the article, when i was in high school you know, i recall there being -- you know, kind of a prejudice, you know that -- this notion that women can't drive.

i made a joke about my wife but obviously not seriously. >> bill: by the way jokes about women drivers are -- legend. there are so many of them. >> yes. i will say that with my wife and my mom both of them, they don't like to change the oil in their cars. i've been told that's my job. i'm from texas so they do things a little different. >> bill: probably don't like to change a flat tire but with cars the way they are, last time i got a flat tire, i haven't change changed one in years. >> you and i will be changing more tires and more oil changes which is a good thing. >> bill: i think it is a good development. >> absolutely. >> bill: all right so now the latest. we have now -- it is announced this just broke this morning. that general -- another general is involved in this petraeus scandal. we know the general petraeus

resigned. he was having an affair with paula broadwell. this whole thing came out because a woman by the name of jill kelly in tampa was also -- had some sort of a relationship with petraeus. paula finds out about this. she's jealous. big love triangle. she starts sending hateful e-mail to jill kelley in tampa. the fbi gets involved and it becomes known that petraeus has had an affair so he resigns. now we find out the top general who took petraeus' place in afghanistan, john r. allen has also been having at least an e-mail relationship with this same jill kelly from florida. >> no. >> bill: and he has released -- ready for this? 20 to 30,000 pages of inappropriate e-mails that he had with this woman jill kelley, from tampa. what the hell's going on? have you ever sent 20,000 pages

of e-mails in your life? >> no. i can't even imagine going through 20,000 pages of e-mail. let alone releasing them to the world. and fox -- >> bill: fox news is saying 30,000. they're taking the upper -- >> it will 150,000. >> bill: he's supposed to be running the war in afghanistan. >> the time -- really, he hasn't willing to -- he spent the last two months going through e-mails. assuming he has a staff of attorneys that have done that. >> bill: so it does make you wonder what the hell these guys are doing and how they have time for this. we don't know that they were having an affair, you know. we also don't think petraeus of having an affair with jill kelly. maybe she wanted to. maybe he wanted to but paula broadwell thought something was cooking up there. now the time she's cheating on petraeus, sending these e-mails. here's the deal though. it is so messy so sloppy, it is like a tv series. >> i was going to say, it feels like "access hollywood," it really does. it is a shame that we're talking

about it. >> bill: should petraeus have resigned? >> look, i think -- >> bill: everybody's got an opinion so whatever it is, either right or wrong but it is your opinion. >> i don't like what he did obviously. do i think he should have had to resign? not necessarily. he chose to resign. i respect that decision coming from the military and their code of justice for -- he is not in the military anymore. i don't like the fact that the fbi was investigating him. i think that's odd. >> bill: bingo. >> this reminds me of like j. edgar hoover type stuff which i'm not suggesting it was and i don't know all of the facts. this is a big cover-up from benghazi that bothers me. somebody could have discovered yeti up in the forest, we could have republicans saying this is a cover-up for benghazi. >> bill: some republicans will go there. that will never fly. back to the fbi.

the way this whole thing got started is this jill kelly in tampa who is getting these e-mails, she doesn't know whom from, you better stay away from my boyfriend she has a friend in the fbi. getting the ugly e-mails. he starts an fbi investigation. jesus. this is not what the fbi -- in my opinion ought to be doing. they have more important things to do. this goes back to the j. edgar hoover days, that's all they were doing were investigating sex lives of prominent people. so he starts this investigation. it goes on. they discover e-mails are coming from paula broadwell. they discover she's having an affair with petraeus. he admits it. she admits it. then an fbi agent goes to a republican member of congress, not to the white house. not to the head of the senate intelligence committee or the house intelligence committee. to a republican member of congress. a guy from washington, forget his name. and then he says oh, you better go to the house leadership. so then the guy goes to eric cantor of all people.

what the hell. >> not john boehner the speaker which is where you would take something like that. >> bill: eric cantor. >> we all know eric cantor actually runs the house. >> bill: we do know that. there's no other reason to go to eric canter other than you want to use this as a political football against barack obama. that's what they were trying to do. >> it makes you wonder is this what we saw in the second term of bill clinton where you know, the republicans now okay, we had a democrat win re-election and here we go with our efforts to impeach the president as dick morris said on election night over twitter let's impeach the president. >> bill: my question is what are the -- what's the fbi doing with this in the first place and why did the white house not know, dianne feinstein not know, pete hoekstra not know. but eric cantor did? who's in control of the fbi? nobody apparently. >> yeah, well i think also just

not comically really because there's not a lot that's funny about this but the fact that the director of central intelligence can't keep interference out makes you wonder how good of a spy he was. >> bill: he did go to -- he told him and he said let's keep this -- >> but this isn't what we need to be talking about right now. >> bill: we'll talk about what this election means coming up next. take your calls at 1-866-55-press. and peter welsh from vermont joining us at the half hour. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: breaking news on several fronts here on the "full court press" this morning. 25 minutes after the hour. eric burns is here as a "friend of bill." we'll get back right back to the issues of the day. but first, times are tough for millions of american families and if you're one of them having a hard time making ends meet at the end of each month here's something you ought to consider. incomeathome.com. they are america's leading work from home business. you've heard me talk about them before. doing business in over 80 countries. this is something you can do, folks. no matter your age education or experience. you can literally earn money on your own laptop from your own kitchen table 24/7. so if you're sick of living paycheck to paycheck, worried about job security or retirement, if your goal is to earn extra money from home part-time or full time this is certainly something you should check out.

incomeathome.com. they're adding my listeners in record numbers, even giving away $1,000 to somebody just for checking them out. to do so, visit incomeathome.com. that's incomeathome.com. so eric, it was a week ago president obama re-elected the more -- it seems to me, the more you look at this victory of his -- >> yes. >> bill: the more impresstive is. >> absolutely. >> bill: won the popular vote by 3 and a half million. had 126-vote margin in the electoral college. 332-206. and he won eight out of nine battleground states. lost north carolina by less than 100,000 votes. >> yes. >> bill: so -- >> it was a thorough victory. it was a mandate i think victory. it was a mandate victory. >> bill: i agree. clear message there.

the american people knew who romney was. knew who obama was and knew what obama's agenda was and knew what romney's agenda was and they made a choice. >> absolutely. you can see it play down through the senate races. the tea party was rejected and the tea party politics of the right -- i think were thoroughly rejected in this campaign. several of the key senate races we had tea party republicans that lost very badly in states that they weren't expecting to. and you know -- i think that was the theme throughout this. >> bill: so now the question is does president obama deal from strength as he -- whatever the issue is. fiscal cliff tax reform. entitlements, global warming. immigration reform. whatever the issue is. does he deal from strength or -- >> absolutely. he has to deal from strength.

this is his own version -- he's like the comeback kid here. these guys threw everything, the kitchen sink and everything else at him. let's not forget glenn beck and all of the posters of obama and the horrific racism that we saw and the threats of violence. he's come back from all of this. and they see -- america says yes, we trust this man to run this country. he's got to deal from strength. >> bill: i agree. the president has to know he has the american people behind him. >> it is up to the republicans to actually say -- to demonstrate they're big boys and girls and they're not poopy heads and they can compromise. >> bill: and recognize that the american people have endorsed president obama ale agenda. that's what they want. now is the time for action. let's see it. we will find out inside news about the fiscal cliff negotiations with peter welsh. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: here we go. 33 minutes after the hour on tuesday. tuesday, november 13. it is the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital. brought to you today by the communication workers of america. the good men and women of the communication worker's union under president larry coen. they are the union for the information age indeed. you can find out more about their good work at cwa-union.org on this tuesday. big day for washington, d.c. at 10:00 a.m. this morning both the house of representatives and the senate reconvene after -- i

don't know, i think it has been a seven-week absence. focused -- most of them running for re-election. one member handily re-elected and the state -- in the state of vermont representing at-large the state of vermont congressman peter welsh back in the studio with us. congratulations. it is good to see you. >> it is great to be back. >> bill: i'm glad the people of vermont did the right thing. >> senator sanders did great and the governor did great. we're all back. >> bill: good night. >> we're back to fight for single payer. >> bill: good. that's where we go from here. eric burns from bullfight strategies here with us as a "friend of bill." in this hour. eric, always good to have you. >> great to be here with both of you guys. >> bill: congressman the big issue of course, everybody is talking about the fiscal cliff the fiscal cliff. john boehner seems to be saying we know what the american people said and we're ready to compromise. but is he really? >> we'll see.

show us the money. that's essentially what it boils down to. what he is saying is the right thing. the election was about two things. one is people want us to work together because they know we have to in order to get things done. second, they want revenues to be part of the solution. they really want it. and what -- speaker boehner is saying is that there is maybe some tax code changes we could make that would provide some revenues but the problem with that is it really doesn't add up. that's essentially what the vague presentation was for the romney campaign. >> bill: right. >> in fact, the deductions he was going to eliminate would be things that would whack the middle class pretty hard. so if that's where they're at, we have to -- we basically do have to ask speaker boehner where's the money. be concrete and specific. i'm pretty skeptical that they'll be able to reach -- we'll be able to reach an agreement. i say they because this will be negotiated by the president and the leadership. i have my serious doubts about the practical possibility in the next couple of months, less than

that really. that they'll be able to reach an agreement that has alluded them for two years. i think we may well be into january and in fact, that may be the better way for us to go to get a deal that works and is durable for the american people. >> bill: so you are saying you believe we will go over the fiscal cliff. >> i do think that. i'm not advocating it. the best proposition is for us to reach an agreement. i'm skeptical. when speaker boehner says he heard the american people but once he starts getting specific about revenues then all hell breaks loose in his conference. so will he be able to do that now? i have my doubts. if he doesn't, it is not the end of the world because we come back in january. we put a bill on the floor to lower tax rates. you know. because january 1, the rates go back to the clinton era rates. we put legislation on the floor. to give the tax cut to middle-class families, 98% of americans.

and that takes care of the revenue side of the equation. we would still have very difficult negotiations on spending trying to squeeze the pentagon a little bit. they've gotta make a contribution to the debt reduction. and obviously anything involving medicare is going to be a contentious debate. >> bill: also if we go into january, the sequestration will have kicked in so these across-the-board cuts will also have begun. >> that's right. so there is a high risk situation here. but -- and let's hope they're able to reach an agreement. but i'm not -- what i don't want us to do is basically blank on the essential component of revenues just because we're fearful of the january 1 date. >> bill: right. >> can i just ask do you see there being a likelihood that everybody will just kind of kick the can down the road with a continuing resolution or delay our sequestration? >> that's my fear because that's what we've done in the past. >> yes. >> it is habit-forming and it is

not going to get us anywhere. we know that. and that may be convenient for the politicians but it is not going to be constructive for the country. so i actually think we've got to reach a durable substantial resolution on this. >> bill: it will be hard to work out. you're here this week but next week is thanksgiving so you're gone then you come back for another couple of weeks then christmas is here. you don't have a lot of time. >> that's exactly right. keep in mind the framework of discussions for the past two years has been lower taxes that's what boehner was pushing. the ryan budget actually -- lowered taxes for rich folks increased them on the middle class. they boosted pentagon spending substantially. and then they smashed domestic discretionary spending. the ryan budget did cut a lot in domestic discretionary but it increased the debt by $6 trillion. so there have been no discussions where the framework was a balanced approach. where you had revenues or the pentagon was making a contribution and where the democrats had to make some

concessions on domestic spending. so that framework, i think is starting to emerge as a result of the people speaking in this election quite clearly. that's what they wanted. but then you get into the very contentious details. can you work that out in two months when there's been no preliminary discussion? i'm a skeptic that we can. springs eternal. >> bill: a lot less than two months. probably three weeks of working time. >> i think that brings up a good question. why isn't speaker boehner saying i'm going to keep the house in session until -- between now and the end of the year until we can come up with a deal on this? and will the democrats come out and say hey we need to have more time here in washington to make some progress on this and not just be essentially in session for three weeks. not that i want to take your holiday away from you. >> you want us to do our job? >> far be it for me -- >> you're right. no, you're right. we went home without a farm bill. this is outrageous. the farm bill is something that congress has to act on every

five years. >> bill: you sit on the agriculture committee. >> that's right. it is tough. it is contentious but it is our job. >> bill: your committee passed it. >> bipartisan bill. >> bill: went to the floor and boehner wouldn't bring it up for the vote. >> first time in the history of congress where the house agriculture committee has passed a farm bill and the house leadership has refused to put it on the floor for a vote. >> bill: because? >> they say they don't have the votes when you know, i was working with christine of south dakota. we're saying hey, put this on the floor because then each of us has to vote yes or no. we have to be held accountable. there are a lot of bad things in the bill and a lot of good things. people have a point of view but the one thing we can't defend is no vote at all. >> this is the same kind of stuff when i worked in the rules committee in the house when delay was majority leader, that we saw from the republicans all the time. they would just stop bills and rules and bury them because they didn't have the votes to win. >> bill: i want to come back to the tax issue for a second because i want to clarify a

couple of points. first of all so what boehner is saying as i understand and the republicans and mitt romney was saying this, we need new revenue as long as it doesn't come from raising taxes. we're going to get all of the new revenue we need by closing loopholes. and now what loopholes? does that mean the mortgage interest deduction is going to go? >> they won't admit it but it would have to. in other words, the only way you're going to get -- >> bill: the number one tax advantage for middle-class families in america, they're willing to throw out rather than raise taxes on the wealthiest of americans. >> yes. and the other one that would be in the line of fire would be the health -- the health insurance deduction. so it would be things that would hit the middle class quite hard. and it effectively raises middle class tax rates. so that's -- one of the things that may have some merit is to limit the deductions on the high income. give everybody a certain amount of deductions on capital gains.

so that a lot of small time -- >> bill: 17,000 they've said or 25 -- whatever it is. >> some number. that has some potential. >> bill: would that add up to -- >> it would not. it would help but it wouldn't add up. that was something advocated by romney. but there's a lot of resistance in the republican -- so the point is even in our little conversation, you're seeing how difficult things get once you get specific and concrete. >> sure. >> speaker boehner said the right things. i happen to think that speaker boehner would like to make a deal. >> i agree with you, too. >> so i think -- my view, he's not the problem. >> but does he have the power? that's right eric because you remember the super committee was negotiating. that's when speaker boehner and the president came close to the grand bargain $4 trillion. that was hopeful in my mind. when he came back to his conference, he was you know, history on that. >> bill: on the -- on the

romney idea that he had -- front page of "the new york times" this morning democrats like a romney idea on income taxes. talking about that. as part of the solution. before we take a break congressman, so i was at the white house friday when the president said look, there's a bill that has passed the senate so tax rates are going to go up for 100% of every american taxpayer. beginning of the year unless we do something. well the bill that has passed the senate will give a tax break. keep taxes low for 98% of the american people. those making under $250,000 a year. doesn't deal with the 2%. the 98%. that bill has passed the senate. it is now in the house. will the house pass that before the end of the year? >> if it comes to the floor it will pass it. absolutely. >> bill: enough republicans would vote for it. >> can you imagine them not voting for a tax cut? >> bill: i can't but they're idiots, some of them. they're tea partiers. >> this is a decision that mr. cantor and mr. boehner make

to bring it on the floor. it has passed the senate. the president has the pen. by the way bill, that means a tax break for 100% of americans. as a millionaire you're going to get the tax break -- >> bill: up to $250,000. we're not leaving -- >> we're not leaving anyone out. >> bill: congressman peter welch in studio with us. your calls are welcome. join the conversation. eric burns still here as a "friend of bill." 1-866-55-press. don't forget in the next hour, we're going to be meeting and talking to members of the white house fellows program. a very exciting program. you get to meet some of them right here on the "full court press." >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." (vo) she gets the comedians

laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

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now to my point. (vo) jennifer granholm ... >>for every discouraged voter, there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the shaft. that is a whole bunch of bunk. the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 12 minutes -- >> you know, we're starting here congressman. if you could please stop. >> bill: we always have a good conversation during the break. 12 minutes now before the top of the hour. again, next hour devoted to the white house fellows. here in studio with us congressman peter welch from vermont back in town with his republican and democratic colleagues. eric burns here as a "friend of bill." so congressman, you're a member of the house oversight committee. will you be holding hearings into the latest sex scandal the fbi general petraeus and now general john allen sex scandal? >> i don't know. that will be up to the chairman. you know, there is an interesting question. aside from the tawdry scandal

component of it. >> bill: love triangle. >> the allegation is that there were like 30,000 pages of e-mails between general allen -- >> bill: this is the latest. and jill kelly. >> here is the hearing i would like to have. who's in charge of the war. what is going on? a general -- >> bill: thank you. >> a general -- an officer is spending that much time on the computer talking to a woman in tampa who's married and has a couple of kids. so who's in charge of the troops. that's actually something that is totally baffling to me. >> bill: right. you know also the idea to me that when he was in afghanistan -- we've been told that their affair did not start when general petraeus was in afghanistan but that paula broadwell, his biographer is over there in kabul for a year and has complete access to him following him around and the whole thing. think of that distraction for

when he was supposedly running the war. >> yes. and actually, you know what? that's the more serious question here. obviously there is the military code of conduct in general petraeus -- members of the military are -- we've had serial generals. we've had 11 different commanders in afghanistan in 11 years. there's no continuity. can you imagine eisenhower being replaced because a year was up and that happened just before normandy? there's a lackadaisical quality to the leadership of structure where you have this constant turnover of generals and i think it is shown in afghanistan. i think there has to be some self-exam as to how they have been structuring their leadership in -- particularly in afghanistan. >> bill: good point. could i also ask you as a member of the committee maybe suggest

to the chairman there's something else you should be looking into. what the hell is the fbi doing investigating sex scandals and why would the fbi go to congressman -- >> cantor -- >> bill: no, before cantor, they went to another republican from washington state. dave -- >> reichert. >> bill: dave reichert from washington state told him about this. he says you know, you ought to talk to the house leadership so they don't inform the white house. they don't inform pete hoekstra, head of house intelligence. they don't inform dianne feinstein, head of senate intelligence. they inform dave reichert and then eric cantor. >> reichert is a former sheriff. >> bill: oh, well that explains it. >> seriously. joe arpaio -- >> bill: out of control here? >> it really suggests a real agenda on the part of whoever the fbi agent was. as i understand the story now that jill kelley had a friend who was in the fbi. >> bill: yeah so they start an

agenda. >> what was his agenda? that doesn't necessarily mean you get the investigation that you want. >> what did eric eric cantor do with that information? >> bill: he went to robert mueller to make sure -- but it looks like that guy had an agenda. maybe -- here's something maybe you can use. >> an october surprise. >> bill: maybe you could use this against obama in the election. >> it smells a lot like that. >> bill: so politics might very well have been sex and politician -- politics, man. i want to play a quick clip from senator sanders on msnbc about what should be our focus not on petraeus but on the fiscal cliff negotiations. >> we've got to come up with a plan that is fair. a plan in which the republicans understand that their proposals during the campaign to extend tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country is not

what the american people want. there is a big debate on this. i'm confident we have the american people on our side who want deficit reduction but want it done in a way that is fair. >> bill: amen, right? >> amen to bernie. that makes sense to me. i think he's dead-on. >> bill: i think -- >> to have that balanced approach we're talking about. gotta include revenues. you know, there's going to be some pain all around on any kind of ultimate agreement we reach. but if there's a significant benefit like that's why 100 of us who wrote to the subcommittee, 40 republicans 60 democrats said everything on the table, go big. $4 trillion. if there's enough benefit then it will -- what happened during the clinton years when he did -- very tough budget that raised taxes and cut some spending. it was very painful because the republicans wouldn't cooperate at all. the democrats had to do something that was tough to do but the upside was enormous. 20 million jobs, four years of

surplus. it set the foundation. that's kind of where we're at now. >> bill: go big. as eric and i were talking before you came in, go bold because the president won. he won decisively. now is the time to go. the american people are behind him. great to see you sir. thank you so much for coming in. >> eric. >> bill: hey eric. "friend of bill." welcome back any time. >> i'll be back in tomorrow then. >> bill: not that bad. president has a busy day. we'll tell you all about it when we come back. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

(vo) cenk uygur is many things. >>oh really? >>"if you ever raise taxes on >>the rich, you're going to destroy our economy." not true! [ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: this is the "bill >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> bill: okay. president obama at the white house today. starting the first of a series

of meetings leading up to negotiations over how to avoid going off the fiscal cliff. he's starting with a very, very important meeting today with leaders of organized labor. a lot of them sponsors of the "full court press" here. and leaders of other progressive organizations to get their ideas on what we should do about supporting his balanced way of balancing the budget. that meet will be at 11:30 today. prior to that, the daily briefing with the vice president. jay carney, his press briefing today at 12:30 and you can bet i will be there. when we come back, our entire next hour, very exciting to talk about the white house fellows program. very important program. get to meet the director and three of this year's outstanding white house fellows on the "full court press" coming up next.

[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> bill: what do you say? good morning everybody. it is the "full court press." here on tuesday november 13. welcome to the program. the only progressive morning show anywhere on cable television. good to have you with us this morning as we bring you up to date on all of the latest news and take your calls at 1-866-55-press. and here is the very latest breaking news this morning. another top general in afghanistan is now caught up in the david petraeus sex scandal. general john r. allen who replaced general petraeus in afghanistan. has just released some 30,000 pages of what are called

inappropriate e-mails that he exchanged with jill kelley, the woman in tampa who started this whole mess in the first place. and who started the fbi investigation. of petraeus. who knew that military men would act so much like politicians. how messy. we'll talk about that and a whole lot more here. actually, this hour is a totally devoted to the white house fellows program. very excited about it. but first, we get the latest. today's current news update from lisa ferguson in los angeles. hi lisa. >> hey bill. good morning everyone. as bill just mentioned and as we've been talking about on the show this morning some more details are coming to light in the scandal involving david petraeus and his mistress, paula broadwell. we now know petraeus' successor in afghanistan general john allen is under investigation as well for allegedly sending inappropriate e-mails to jill kelley in florida.ú but we're also realizing how much in this case has yet to be uncovered. namely how much broadwell knew about sensitive national

security information and whether she might have leaked any of those details. an fbi search that ended just hours ago found that she did have classified material on her computer. the top position at the c.i.a. has a scandalous history well before petraeus' resignation last week. bill casey died before the investigation into his role in the iran-contra affair and other directors have resigned after a wide array of scandals. now, it is up to the president to replace petraeus and rearrange his national security team. part of that will include appointing a new defense secretary. there's a lot of speculation that could go to senator john kerry. many think he would rather have the secretary of state job but that will most likely go to u.n. ambassador susan rice. with the election over and the president safely in the white house, the administration is also reassessing its foreign policy. that includes how it will deal with syria iran and afghanistan. more bill press is coming up after the break. stay with us.

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[ ♪ theme ♪ ] >> announcer: broadcasting >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation. on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >> bill: breaking news. one more general now the top general in afghanistan involved in the david petraeus sex scandal. getting messier and messier. but we're not going to talk about that anymore. we've talked about that enough today. good morning everybody. great to see you. it is tuesday november 13. one week from the re-election of barack obama and this had is the "full court press." coming to you live from our nation's capital. bringing you all the news of the day and of course, we'll take your calls at 1-866-55-press. we invite you to follow us on

twitter at bpshow. you can also follow us on facebook please. facebook.com/billpressshow or go to current.com and join the chat room where you can join all of your other "full court pressers" across the land debating the issues of the day and having a big morning conversation, a little town hall among yourselves. good to see you today. thank you for joining us. and we have a very special hour for you this hour. to talk about the white house fellows program. a program i've been familiar with for a long time. have admired very much. i've gotten to know some of the people involved. wanted you to get to know them as well. and we begin by welcoming to the program, the director of the white house fellows program under president barack obama. cindy moelis. thanks for coming in. >> thanks forinviting us. >> bill: best and the

brightest. >> thanks for inviting us. >> bill: look forward to getting to see them. our regular team, almost all here. peter ogborn off for a couple of days. dan henning is flying the 747 with the help of phil backert on phones somewhere and cyprian bowlding our videographer who doesn't have a microphone. we just wave to cyprian. >> he's not it's allowed to speak. >> bill: before we get into the white house fellows program it is -- a week after the re-election of president obama. which is good news for little abby. you may remember 6-year-old abbey in san antonio. or houston dan? >> yeah, houston, i think. texas. >> bill: her mom -- she was very very upset in the car just before the election because she had heard so many negative ads back in forth and her mom found out what little abby -- remember this, was so upset about. >> just because i'm tired -- i'm

tired of barack obama and mitt romney. >> that's why you're crying? oh it will be over soon, abby? okay? the election will be over soon, okay? >> okay. >> bill: so upset. poor little abby. bronco bama. yesterday, her mom gave her the good news. it is all over, abby. she's very happy. >> the election is over. >> who is going to be our president? >> bronco -- >> bama. >> yea! >> bill: yea bronco bama made it. abby is happy and so are most of the rest of us, too. good to have you with us this morning. cindy, good to see you. i got to know the white house fellows program first because a good friend of mine from san diego, lynn shank, former member of congress, great friend, was a white house fellow and she -- she was always

talking about it. we were in jerry brown's administration together. her days back here at the white house. she was our secretary of business and transportation in california. and then economy to washington and -- this could chen i come to washington. john phillips becomes chairman of the commission. >> an incredible chair. he's the chair of the president's commission on politics. >> bill: he's done a great job. i've gotten to know the program a little bit. then got to meet you and the last few years have met the white house fellows and it is just an outstanding program. how old is it? when did it get started? >> president johnson and john gardner who, at the time was the president of the carnegie corporation came up with this idea it was incredibly important to bring young talented people into government. at that time, history as we all remember, young people weren't as enthralled with coming into government. so they -- use this as a mechanism to bring some of our best and brightest into government in order to expose them to the federal government and so it was 1964. almost 50 years. we have 50 years of these wonderful people who have come

into government. the concept was to bring them in at a high level expose them to cabinet level leadership, decision-making, how federal government works in the white house. encourage them to go back into their communities so it is an unusual fellowship. and like lynn, that's how it worked. she came in. she got a sense of what federal government was about. she went back out and she became a leader in her own community with a better sense of how to work with federal government effectively. >> bill: now so it's continued every year since '64 right? >> right. >> bill: under republican presidents and democratic presidents. >> which makes it truly unique. it is a nonpartisan program. i'll talk a little bit later on about the selection process. we purposely make it very hands off. this is not a partisan program. so people from either party should apply regardless of the president. but nine presidents have embraced it over the course of the 50 years. >> bill: wow. they're here for the fellows here for how long? >> they come in august and they leave in august. a lot of it is set up -- 365

days, it is a one-year fellowship. unless they're in the middle of a very critical project they then are encouraged to go back. some people do stay. they get to be in their department. they become indispensable and some departments ask them to stay as regular, federal employees. >> bill: so when you're interviewing potential white house fellows, you don't say who did you vote for for president. >> absolutely not. >> bill: who were you going to vote for for president. >> correct. the people who make the choices are some of the alumni. there is a -- it is a very intense process. it is a three-tier process to be chosen. it is only 11-19 people by law. so by executive order, it is limited to 11 to 19 individuals selected every year which means it is a very small group. so you may have a thousand applicants come through and through a three-tier process which goes through alumni which are both democrats and republicans and civic leaders in various cities around the country then it goes to the president's commission. you have three different components to get through. >> bill: so the alumni screen

them first and then civic leaders around the country right? >> correct. and then the president's commission which is appointed by the sitting president. so john phillips was appointed by president obama. but the goal is to have both republicans and democrats sit on that commission. and people at such a high level they would never choose based on politics but they're choosing based on talent. >> bill: what is the average age of the -- i've always been surprised that -- we're talking white house. we're not talking kids who just graduated from high school or kids who just graduated from college. these are men and women that i've met who have very impressive careers. we're going to meet some of them a little bit later here. what's your average age? >> so there used to be an age limit. when it first was set up, it was 25 to 35. under president carter, they took away the age. it is about emerging leadership in a field. you did mention they're already accomplished in their field. they show potential to grow further. so these are -- the average age is now around 33 to 34.

last year we had a 28-year-old fellow and a 42-year-old fellow. that was our range. in the past when colin powell was a fellow -- he's one of our famous alumnis, he was actually 35. he was as old as he could be at the time. the military suggested he go and be part of the white house fellowship and apply. he actually wasn't that familiar with it. he was a little resistant. he tells that story now in his book. he was a little resistant because in the military, you want to stay on track. so for him to come out of the military and be part of this program with civilian leaders and military leaders was a little different. >> bill: yeah. >> he talks about it as being transformational and what made the difference between his career and his trajectory. >> bill: so you've got a-run lead toker member be of congress, lynn shank former top general of the -- colin powell. who are some of the other alumni? >> governor brownbeck. former secretary elaine chow. sanjay gupta who went to being a

neurosurgeon to -- >> bill: a tv star. good friend. >> the way the fellowship works they're actually placed throughout the government. some end up in the white house. some end up in department -- cabinet departments. justice, state labor. he actually was the fellow for the first lady, hillary clinton. so sanjay gupta was -- during his fellowship, he was placed in the first lady's office. >> bill: so when they come in, you mention they come in for a year and the idea is have them at the top level of government. so they are -- they get an assignment right? which lasts one year in the same assignment. >> correct. >> bill: correct. and they're right at the cabinet level -- tell us about where they might be placed. >> well, we have -- this year, we have four fellows in the white house. last year, we had five. they could be placed anywhere from the national security council to domestic policy council depending on their focus, they may end up working for the director or maybe the deputy director but we really

try to maintain that high level. secretary sebelius has had her fellow shadow when they're at hhs. sometimes is more deputy or undersecretary. >> bill: really exposed to the top levels of decision making in the federal government. >> absolutely. >> bill: taking on important projects. so you have -- tell me again how many -- under law, you can have up to 19? >> up to 19. this year, we have 15. the class is extremely diverse in terms of professions. we have four active military. one from each of the branches which doesn't always happen but wonderful. one of the most incredible learning experiences of this program, this fellowship is how they teach each other. one thing john gardner who was a visionary when it came to this kind of leadership is that he wanted them to really feed into each other's talent and support each other through their careers. so we have four military. we have three doctors. we have two lawyers. we have two social entrepreneurs and a journalist.

it is very diverse group of people. >> bill: glad you got a journalist in there. [ laughter ] if you end up with 19, how many apply? initially usually? >> the way you apply and anyone listening to this should consider this if this is something -- >> bill: or watching. >> people who are interested in public service. who have leadership skills. who want to expose themselves to this kind of leadership lessons. they can go online. i mention that it is a self-nomination process. it really can vary. the first year i was in, it was up to 1,000 applications, different years it is different. but it is pretty competitive because if you think about 19 slots for 1,000 applicants, you understand that it's more competitive than a lot -- >> bill: for people who want to apply they go to whitehouse.gov and look for the white house fellows program. >> i believe it is whitehouse.gov/fellows and the application is online. >> bill: we'll put a link up on our web site for those of who you might want to apply for this exciting program. when we come back, cindy moelis

will sty with us. we'll meet the first of our white house fellows this year, candace jones i think from chicago. >> she is from chicago. >> bill: we'll be right back. >> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show" live on your radio and on current tv. let's hear yours. politically direct means no b.s. just telling you what's going on in politics today. >>at the only on-line forum with a direct line to bill press. >>it's something i've been waiting for a long time. >>join the debate now.

>>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. do you share the sense of outrage that they're doing this, this corruption based on corruption based on corruption. >>i think that's an

understatement, eliot. u>> i'm not prone tot. understatement, so explain to me why that is. i think the mob learned from wall st., not vice versa. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> bill: all right you got it. 22 minutes after the hour now here on this tuesday november 13. very special day here at the "full court press." devoting this hour to learning more about and getting to know

some of the -- learning more about the white house fellowship program and getting to know some of the white house fellows cindy moelis, director of the program in studio with us. and so is candace johnson. a white house fellow this year. congratulations. >> thank you. >> bill: good to see you. i remember meeting you at the little reception when the new members were introduced. >> indeed. >> bill: you're from chicago. >> i am. >> bill: you were pretty busy in chicago. >> i was busy in chicago. what were you doing? >> i do criminal justice policy and i focus on juvenile justice. so in chicago, i was working for the state of illinois, running a statewide commission that redistributed the federal title that come down through the office of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. so the office that i ran distributed those grant funds within the state and also issued policy briefs to the governor and to the legislature about what's the best avenues for that work. >> bill: that's a huge

responsibility. yeah. how much money were you dealing with every year? >> we were dealing with about -- so we had a grant size of about $1.8 million that came through every year. we would have some funds in reserve so our funds went back to about 2009. so we had about $6 million. >> bill: great job like that with all of that responsibility. living in one of the greatest cities on the planet. chicago. why did you want to leave and come back here and be a white house fellow? first all, how did you find out about it? >> it is interesting. >> bill: you knew cindy. >> no, no, no. >> bill: little conspiracy. >> there was no insider game. >> bill: no? >> i actually didn't know about the program two years ago i had never heard of it. and i think one of the big goals of this commission has been sort of like outreach. and i was at a work event a couple of years ago. to myself, i don't think i was doing anything particularly extraordinary at the moment. but someone who is a current commissioner came up to me and

said you know, i really think that you should think about this program and she encouraged me to research it and to really consider whether or not it be something i could do professionally. so i did. and it came at a time when i was thinking about -- you know, whenever you do any policy issue that you care about you're always thinking about how do you take it to scale. how do you get more people to be vested in the work that you do. >> bill: sure. >> you can only do that once you understand how the federal government works. >> bill: so you applied. >> yeah. >> bill: sifnedy was telling me about the three-tier process. was it pretty arduous? >> it was. there were a lot of hoops but it is good. >> bill: do you have to write stuff? you're interviewed? >> the initial part is a pretty lengthy paper application you have to write several essays. really, i think they're trying to get you to distill why you would want to do something like this. you have to get recommendation sort of -- way above and beyond anything you would have done for school or graduate school.

and then you have to sort of talk about your work. do a resume but then also do a distillation of your professional activities so it is a lot. it is quite a lengthy paper process then you go into a regional process with -- you sit around the table with people no matter where you're from who represent some of the most impressive people that you know or have worked with or have heard of in your own region and then as if that isn't enough, if you make it to finals, you have to go and sit at a table with people you were never expected to have to answer questions in front of. but it really is -- it is rigorous. >> bill: now you have been -- where are you working now as a white house fellow? where are you assigned? >> the department of education. >> bill: very exciting. secretary arne duncan. did you get to choose that or assigned there? >> they ask you about a set of issues that you think are really important. and i think the program -- i'm speculating. you can tell me. it is what i think happened.

they ask you to sort of rank priority issues and then i think what happens in the office is they send you out to a lot of agencies and i think cindy tries to make a choice between what's a good fit both based on what you've done but also trying to get you to grow a little bit professionally. >> bill: do you like it? >> i do like it. >> bill: do you find you're challenged there? >> it is very challenging because for me, i worked a lot with youth on the justice side but this is an opportunity for me to learn about youth sort of holistically. >> bill: what are you going to do when this is over? is your old job waiting for you? >> no. that's one of the things i have to sacrifice for the program. so i have to decide -- i have to decide what's next. but i'm hopeful that there will be some great things. >> bill: i hear that jesse jackson jr. might be stepping down. >> no. i don't know about that. >> bill: no running for office? no? >> that would be -- >> bill: but you plan to go back to chicago? >> i do plan to go back to chicago at this point. >> bill: not stay here as part of the federal government --

>> no. i think of, sort of in the spirit of the program think i will take this opportunity to go back and apply. >> bill: what do you tell the young people in 30 seconds who are out there not sure what they're going to do next in their life? >> consider applying. you know, i like many folks who hadn't heard of it, it is worth it to get on the web site and think about it. i think one of the least highlighted but really most significant parts of the program is the fellowship class. there are few professional opportunities at this point in your career where you can sort of be with such a diverse multidisciplinary group learning together. >> bill: great endorsement. from candace johnson -- jones. what am i saying? sorry. candace, great to see you. >> thank you. good to see you. >> bill: we're going to come back and meet a doctor who is part of the program. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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>> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show." live on your radio and current tv. >> bill: 33 minutes after the hour now. here we go on this tuesday, november 13. president obama at the white house today meeting with labor leaders and head to progressive organizations as a first step toward negotiations on the fiscal cliff. jay carney with his press briefing today at 12:30 at the white house and i will be there. tell you all about it tomorrow. we'll continue our discovery of all of the exciting things about the white house fellows program in just a second. but this item and this article about identity theft caught my

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details. 1-800-3el 56-5967 -- 1-800-356-5967. if you're up to maybe a little younger than 35, maybe just a little older you have a successful career but you want to think about how to take it up a notch maybe here's something very, very exciting to consider. cindy moelis is the director in studio with us. and a annan is our next fellow from california. correct? >> that's right. from california. >> bill: palo alto. >> that's right. >> bill: stanford university did you go there? >> i was there for my medical school degree and i stayed for residency. >> bill: i got it. so what is your profession and -- at stanford or palo alto? >> sure, absolutely. most of my career has been focused on medicine, primarily research for spinal cord injury and brain tumors. from there in medical school, i

applied to residency and began my residency as a neurosurgeon. so for the last four years i've spent training as a neurosurge and most recently at the palo alto veterans hospital. >> bill: you're a neurosurgeon. >> i am. >> bill: you actually operate. do you do surgery? >> i do have the privilege of doing surgery particularly in the last year for -- >> bill: isn't that scary? >> it can be. it can be. i think we spend a lot of time practicing and really getting into -- >> bill: i would hope so. never had brain surgery but i would hope the person -- if i ever did -- the people who operate on me would have practiced a little bit. >> that's right. absolutely. it is seven years of training. >> bill: wow! >> this year actually counts as one of my years. we have a year dedicated to professional development. some people choose to do research. some choose to do clinical science. i chose to be a part of the white house fellows program and was accepted.

>> he is not a practicing surgeon. >> this year i am not. >> bill: congratulations for making the program. >> thank you. >> bill: we were talking about the outreach. you mentioned president clinton -- >> president clinton called this program washington's best-kept secret and we're really trying to change that. we're trying to get it out there and do more outreach. >> bill: we're trying to help you this morning. >> we appreciate it. >> bill: making sure all of our friends in "full court press" land know about the program and know the opportunity, the tremendous opportunity provided here. so how did you find out about the program? >> sure. that's a great question. halfway through residency, i started thinking about ways to participate in public service. as you may recall, the affordable care act was coming to bear and there were a lot of decisions changing the way we were practicing medicine. so i looked through -- i used to read a lot of biographers general powell is one of the first biographies that caught my attention. from there dr. gupta famous in the neurosurgery circle.ú i learned about how they combined their experience in washington with their future practice. i thought about a plan to

graduate programs but i felt like this was a real-world experience that would be hard to match. certainly, i had a plan b but this was my -- my dream. >> bill: hear about those too, heroes of yourself. they went through the white house heroes program. why not me. tough getting here? >> it was. it was a long road. it was a long road. and i think the best part about the application process is as candace mentioned it forces you to distill down your goals in terms of what you would like to accomplish in the next couple of years after you graduate and where you're really taking the intellectual drix of your career -- the direction of your career. that's a challenge at lo of people face. this helps you build the contacts and see sort of in practice how government functions. >> bill: where are you spending your time this year? where are you assigned? >> the department of defense. >> bill: the department of defense. >> i am. >> bill: and in a medical unit there or policy unit? >> that's a great question. it may not be obvious why neurosurgeon should be at the department of defense but my

skills in understanding traumatic brain injury humanitarian aid and some of the issues of policymaking are something that i hope to share with the defense department but i really work sort of as we mentioned earlier, at the chief of staff level and contribute to things that are outside of my area of expertise. that's one of the greatest learnings a pects of the program. we learn about things i would ordinarily never have exposure to. issues that wouldn't cross my path in my occupation. so it has been an incredible learning experience. >> bill: do you -- among the fellows, do you get together and give a chance to share what you're learning at the department of defense with somebody who might be like candace jones, at the department of education? and others? are those opportunities there as part of the program? >> absolutely. that's probably one of the greatest parts of the program. you have 14 other fellows. what they bring in terms of their personalities, their career history. what their viewpoints are on what's going on in our country.

we need somewhere between -- meet somewhere between two to three times a week and sometimes more socially and a lot of us have family and kids and so we try to get as many of our members together as possible. and it is an opportunity to share with what you're working on at your department but it is a -- is definitely a situation where we get together as much as possible. >> it is also one of the few programs and environments where military and civilian leaders get a chance to share information. one thing we intentionally do is 101. our military fellows actually explain the military to the nonmilitary fellows. our doctors do a healthcare 101. so they become the experts in their field and share with each other. which is really incredible. but the military civilian piece is something a lot of these leaders do not get exposed to. both the military leaders as well as the civilian so for a couple of days every year, we often go on an aircraft carrier and really understand what happens on an aircraft carrier. it is really an incredible environment of learning. >> bill: right. so now as i understand, unlike

candace, do you have a job to go back to. >> i will continue my training. and i'm looking forward to finishing it. at the end of those two years really is -- at the end of my training, i make a decision on how to enter the practice of medicine and really, if i will have an opportunity to have a large component dedicated to policy, i think that will be a big part of my career in the future. >> bill: absolutely. this will give you so many more opportunities, right? more ways to make an impact. >> that's right. physicians aren't necessarily trained with an understanding of policy and guidelines coming down so hhs and the federal government, this gives us an opportunity to contribute and inspires us to be a part of the process in the future. >> bill: anand who is another white house fellow. congratulations again for making the program. thanks for coming in. sharing your story with us. ann o'connell is next, a member of the u.s. coast guard and this year's white house fellow. we'll be right back on the "full court press." >> announcer: heard around the country and seen on current tv, this is the "bill press show."

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we have a big, big hour and the i.q. will go way up. how are you ever going to solve the problem if you don't look at all of the pieces? >>tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >>you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. >>sharp tongue, quick whit and above all, politically direct. >>you just think there is no low they won't go to. oh, no. if al gore's watching today...

>> announcer: this is the "full court press." the "bill press show." live on your radio and on current tv. >> bill: all right. 15 minutes now before the top of the hour. it is tuesday november 13. very special edition of the "full court press." to learn about the white house fellows program and to meet some of this year's class cindy moelis is the director -- is that your title? director? >> i'm the director of the president's commission. yep. >> bill: white house fell lows. ann o'connell is a member of this year's class. >> good morning. >> bill: commander of the

coast guard, lieutenant commander of the united states coast guard. shall i call you commander? >> you can call me ann. >> bill: and we are bringing you information about the class giving. >> chance to meet them -- giving you a chance to meet them so this is something you can consider. the web site is whitehouse.gov/about/fellows. cindy, you can tell us how people get involved maybe in this year's program -- for next year's program before we end up here today. ann, we had this little reception, i was struck, you said your last job had been as commander of a ship in the caribbean, intercepting drug runners. >> that's correct. as you mentioned i'm a lieutenant commander in the coast guard and part of being here -- prior to being here, my last operational assignment, i was down in puerto rico and we were stopping human smugglers and drug traffickers and doing

search and rescue. >> bill: and this is one of three ships you've been -- different ships you've been commander of? >> yes. that's correct. so ship in puerto rico. a ship in the middle east and also a ship off the coast of new england. >> bill: how long have you been in the coast guard? >> 1988. but i've been commissioned since 2002. i went to the coast guard academy. >> bill: what is the percentage of women in the coast guard? is it pretty high? getting higher? >> it is getting higher but in my opinion, it is still too low. i think it is about -- between 11% and 14% right now. >> bill: what's the percentage of women commanders of vessels? >> oh, i'm not sure. that's even lower than that. but one of the great things about the coast guard is we get those opportunities. >> bill: did you have any -- find any resistance on the part of -- are they called sailor in the coast guard. i don't know what men in the coast guard are called. the new commanders coming on board and suddenly they look up and here is a woman walking up

the gangplank. >> no, they were always fantastic. i think that the times are changing a lot and people are more and more open to having women in the service and women in command and have always had great sailors under my command. >> bill: yeah. and it must have been a very challenging job right? very tense. especially when you're going after somebody. >> very intense. when we're in the middle east, we were right on the border between iran and iraq and -- >> bill: oh, gosh. talk about the most unsafe place in the world. right? >> still thinks the white house fellows is challenging. i just want you to know that. >> bill: i know why you chose this program. you wanted a break. >> this has been a great experience and loved every minute of it. >> bill: we'll come back to iran and iraq. you navigated the waters. were you in international waters between the two? >> we were in iraqi waters. there are two oil platforms up there. we were providing security for

those. >> bill: i remember those british sailors not long ago were caught in iranian waters. >> right in the same area actually. >> bill: is that right? >> yep. >> bill: how did you find -- you're on this ship in the middle east, how did you find out about the white house fellows program? >> i heard about it five years ago from one of our coast guard officers who had gone through the program in the bush administration and he sat down and told me about it. i was hooked. i looked into it and knew it was something that i wanted to do and just timed it out and it worked with my career and was able to apply and lucky enough to be accepted. >> bill: i'm sure, cindy one way a lot of people learn about it. those who have been through the program are eager to tell other people that they think -- they say hey, they would be a perfect candidate. >> they're our best ambassadors. the alumni are the best ambassadors. they have to wait for a year where it makes sense to be in a more educational environment than being in battle or combat. >> bill: so congratulations for making the program.

what do you like about it? what don't -- do you find more valuable? >> my favorite parts is the other fellows. working with people from very different sectors learning about their experiences and getting to spend great amounts of time with them and hear their perspective on leadership and their service. >> bill: you have it a chance to do that among yourselves as anand was telling us, too. what is your assignment? >> democratic policy counsel. >> who is head of that now? >> cecilia munoz. >> one piece of the program we didn't talk about this is this idea we bring in speakers so the whole group can do q&a. cecilia munoz is going to have lunch with the group this afternoon. as much as anne gets to work with her the whole group gets to ask her questions about all of the domestic policies they would like to talk about. it is off the record. very intimate so the whole group gets to meet each of the principles from each of the

fellows work with. >> bill: so you get to meet the cabinet secretaries and those who have a chance to exchange with them. >> of course, the president and the vice president and the first lady. >> bill: is someone actually assigned to the president's office? >> not this year but a couple of years ago, we had somebody in the chief of staff office. it changes all the time. >> bill: have you already had your meeting with the president? >> not yet. he's been a little bit busy. >> bill: no kidding. >> he will be free to meet with us. >> bill: the vice president too? >> he will be coming up also. >> bill: and the first lady? >> we're going to be meeting with her as well. we haven't met with her yet. >> bill: all three of them have been pretty busy. >> yes. >> bill: now you are in the military so when you're finished with the program you go back to the military, is that correct? >> that's correct yes. >> bill: that's your career. you're there for -- >> as long as they'll keep me. i love the coast guard. i love serving so as long as they'll allow me to stay. >> bill: what is your message to people like this sailor

friend of yours who told you about the program? what will you tell others about the white house fellowship program what you learned so far. >> i would tell this them it is a great experience. sometimes it can be a little bit intimidating. you read everybody's bios and you start saying i could never do this but you know, take the time. fill out the application. it is going to be -- even if you don't make it, it is a great experience and to meet people at regionals and finals and to learn about yourself but you know what? you have a great shot of making it as anybody else. >> bill: do you think it will make. >> better commander better member of the coast guard? >> undoubtedly. >> bill: with just the people you've met and the extra stills. >> extra skills and stepping back and seeing that 30,000 foot view of government and hear the great leadership experiences from everybody. >> bill: cindy, other young people even young people up to the age of -- 35? >> no. we have no age limit now.

it is really about emerging leadership in different fields. so you know, the average age has been 33, 34. but i want to -- i want to re-emphasize what anne said. do not get intimidated. go on, look at the bios but do not say to yourself well i'm not a neurosurgeon or i don't command a ship, put yourself in the position of giving yourself a shot at it because it is a wonderful learning experience. >> bill: how do they do so? >> they go on to whitehouse.com and look at the application. january 15th is our deadline. everything has to be in by then. so you do have a good amount of time but the application takes time. as candace had said. we encourage you to start it quickly. >> bill: we'll put a link up on our web site. whitehouse.gov/about/fellows. deadline is january 15. i don't know, i would think about it myself. good to see you. thanks to anand and you cindy. white house fellows program one of the best things going. let's not keep it a secret

anymore. i'll be back with a quick parting shot. thanks guys. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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